Berlin in Frankfurt

At the beginning of July, we had another friend in town and spent a couple of days exploring the Alsace-Lorraine region of France. 

We started off the long weekend with a drive down to Strasbourg. I was pleasantly surprised by this little city. In my head, I knew it would be picturesque but I had a small and crowded city in mind. It was larger than I expected and a lot more to see than I thought there would be. We enjoyed strolling around, sampling the local cuisine and ended up taking a boat tour which gave us an amazing view of the sights along with narration. The tour takes you up the river outside the downtown which was also neat. There are several really interesting buildings including the European Parliament building.  

The next day, we had breakfast and made our way to Nancy for a two-night stay. We took a roundabout way, winding our way through the Alsatian wine country. We stopped for a wine tasting at a small family-owned winery then took a small hike up a vineyard to see a small chapel. 

We drove through countless picturesque small towns and stopped to get picnic supplies (wine, water, baguette, five very necessary kinds of cheese, olives, and apples) and in our serach for the perfect picnic spot, ended up driving up to see Mont-Sainte-Odile which is an abbey perched atop a mountain overlooking the Alsatian countryside. We spent a while exploring the grounds, then drove back down the mountain and found a perfect picnic/hammock/nap spot. 

From there, we arrived in Nancy and spent the next two days exploring, eating, and relaxing at our hotel a little bit. Nancy wasn’t particularly exciting but we did enjoy walking around the historic downtown area and also enjoyed their city park complete with menagerie with peacocks! 

On the way back to Frankfurt, we ended up stopped in Luxembourg for a day trip. What an interesting city with many layers both culturally and literally – the city is built on so many different levels and walls, its fascinating to take in the views and decide where to go next. 

Then, winding home from Luxembourg, we ended up taking back roads along the German wine country along the Moselle River – I can’t wait to spend a fall weekend in one of the quaint hotels nestled into the side of the mountain among the vineyards.